NYPD: Man hit by U-Haul truck in Brooklyn 'rampage' dies

The driver of a U-Haul truck plowed over several pedestrians and bicyclists mid-Monday morning, killing one and injuring seven during a "violent rampage" through Brooklyn that ended with his arrest near the entrance to the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel to Manhattan, the NYPD said. 

The victims were injured after the U-Haul hit pedestrians and electric bike riders and jumped a curb with a police car in close pursuit during a nearly 8½-mile drive through Brooklyn, according to the NYPD and witnesses. 

Police afterward said two of the victims were in critical condition and two others in serious condition at area hospitals. Four victims suffered minor injuries, police said.

Seven were civilians and one was a responding police officer.

Late on Monday, police said one victim, a 44-year-old man, was pronounced dead at a hospital. His identity was not immediately released.

NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell, speaking close to where police were able to stop the U-Haul and arrest the driver, said a possible motive was still under investigation, but it didn't appear there was any terrorism connection. Police examined the truck for explosives but none were found 

A security camera video showed the truck clip a scooter, then swerve onto a sidewalk and nearly plow into a pedestrian, who dived to safety just in time. A police patrol car then followed the truck down the sidewalk at high speed.

Law enforcement officials identified the driver as 62-year-old Weng Sor. Charges were pending. It was not immediately clear whether Sor had an attorney.

Sewell described the driver's alleged actions as a “violent rampage" through Brooklyn.

1 Victim suffered a broken leg. 2 Man on e-bike hit, now in critical condition. 3 Rider on e-bike hit, condition unknown. 4 Rider on e-bike hit, condition unknown. 5 Pedestrian hit, condition unknown. 6 Pedestrian hit, condition unknown. 7 Suspect drove on sidewalk near entrance of Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel (Hugh L. Carey Tunnel) to get around traffic. Police blocked his truck. Suspect arrested.

Stephen Sor, 30, who identified himself as the driver's son, told the Associated Press that his father, who had been living in Las Vegas for the last few years, had a history of mental illness, and in the past had not taken his medications and acted out.

“Very frequently he’ll choose to skip out on his medications and do something like this," Stephen Sor told the AP in an interview outside of his Brooklyn home. "This isn’t the first time he’s been arrested. It’s not the first time he’s gone to jail.”

According to the AP, Nevada court records say that Weng Sor was sentenced to one to three years in a Nevada prison for stabbing his brother in Las Vegas in 2015.

The incident began at about 10:50 a.m. when the U-Haul struck a victim at the intersection of 5th Avenue and Senator Street in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn, police said. The driver then struck a man on an electric bike less than a half-mile away at the intersection of 5th Avenue and Bay Ridge Parkway, police said. That victim had been listed in critical condition.

The driver struck a third victim, also on an E-bike, just two blocks away at Bay Ridge Parkway and 7th Avenue, police said. The U-Haul then hit another electric bike rider before it struck a pedestrian at 72nd Street and 3rd Avenue and then again hit another pedestrian at 4th Avenue and 54th Street, police said. 

Katherine Aronova told the AP she saw the U-Haul run a red light, hit a delivery worker on an e-bike and drag him a short distance.

“His face was covered with blood. He was unconscious,” and his shoes were scattered on the sidewalk, Aronova told the AP. “The electric bicycle was destroyed completely.”

Police were finally able to stop the U-Haul after it mounted a sidewalk near tunnel at Hamilton Avenue and Columbia Street in an attempt to get around vehicles stopped at a red light, police said. 

Witness Andrea Vasquez told the AP she saw the truck jump a sidewalk while being pursued by police and nearly mow down a pedestrian, who luckily jumped out of the way. 

“I was in shock and didn’t know what was happening until I saw the police patrol was chasing it,” Vasquez told the AP. “Thank God that man saved himself." 

With Matthew Chayes